Rise in suicides in India in 2019; highest suicide rate in Maharashtra: NCRB

India reported about 381 suicides daily for the year of 2019, marking an increase of nearly 3.4% suicide deaths as compared to 2018, a report by the National Crime Records Bureau said. In the year 2019, 139,123 suicides were reported, as compared to 2018, which saw 134,516 suicides and 2017 which recorded 1,29,887 fatalities. Notably out of the 1,39,123 suicides in the year 2019, 92,757 which amounts to about 66.7% were people who were married, according to the National Crime Records Bureau report. 

Highest suicide rate in Maharashtra 

The 'Accidental Deaths and Suicide in India 2019' report also mentioned that suicide rates in cities was about 3.4% higher than the all India suicide rate which stands at 10.4%. However, it is important to mention that 66.2% of the fatalities were from families with an annual income of less than 1 lakh. 

Five states contributed to nearly 50% of the suicides. These are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu. West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka with Maharashtra recording nearly 18,916 cases in 2019. Around 55% of the suicides were due to-- marriage related issues (5.5%), family problems (32.4%), illness (17.1%) while nearly 53.6 per cent suicides were committed via hanging. 

When it comes to the male and female ration, for every 100 suicide deaths, 70.2 were male and 29.8 were females, the NCRB data reported.

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Overcrowding in prisons at a 10-year high 

Another report on prison statistics was released by the NCRB for the year 2019. The report highlighted how the problem of overcrowding was on a consistent rise in Indian prisons.

There was nearly 118.5% overcrowding in prisons for the year 2019 where for prisons with a capacity of 4,03,700 almost 4,78,600 inmates were lodged. According to the statistics, prison overcrowding in India was at a 10 year high, the highest overcrowding states and UTs like Delhi, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. 

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